Relations Are Hard When It's Just Two
by LostSoulSister
Summary: Gajeel Redfox has worked hard to become the Intercompany Relations Director at the Fairy Tail Law Firm. But when he has to start working closely with Levy McGarden, the company's head translator, and the girl he used to pick on in high school, things are about to get a whole lot more complicated. Alternate POV to "Love Doesn't Translate Well"
1. Chapter 1

Gajeel didn't like people. He didn't understand how they could be so soft and emotional all the time.

Generally, they just got on his nerves. So how he started working as the Intercompany Relations Director, he had no clue. But he could get along well with rough legal people, so Mr. Makarov Dreyar, the boss, usually made him deal with other law firms, rather than the regular softies of the general public. For that, he was the best man for the job.

Even so, he had two people to deal with everyone else. Wife and husband, Bisca and Alzack Connell, were good at interacting with normal humans, so they worked in Human Relations underneath him. Gajeel had a feeling it came from the whole having a kid thing. He didn't like kids much either, but sometimes they were easier to deal with than adults. Their kid was just about to go into high school, so she didn't come around much, to Gajeel's relief.

Today was supposed to be a good day for him. The head translator, albeit the _only_ translator, had just been hired, and it broadened his perspectives widely. Although he could speak Spanish well enough, other people had just been out of reach because of language barriers, and Google translate helped him none. Gajeel was glad to have the opportunity to make Fairy Tail even better.

However, when he walked into his office after going to get his fifth coffee that morning, he was greeted by a familiar head of messy blue hair.

It wasn't a good sort of familiar.

He had wanted to shove the bad memories of the person he was in high school out of his head. Being the school bully wasn't the highlight of his life, and it's a version of him he regretted ever being. He tormented everyone, but one person in particular.

The one person who just so happened to be _standing right in front of him._

" _Just pretend you don't know her,"_ he thought to himself. " _Maybe she won't recognize it's you."_

Levy recognized him.

He was trying to be civil, but she immediately started yelling at him, and this is _not_ what he wanted on a Monday morning. He watched Lisanna leave out of the corner of his eye, no doubt about to tell the pyro about the incident, who would go on to tell Blondie, who would go on to tell everyone else in the entire firm. He sighed internally as he brought Levy to his desk. She commented under her breath about the one framed picture that he had.

It was a picture of him, Juvia, and his black cat, Pantherlily. It was on Juvia's 19th birthday, and Gajeel had surprised her with a party. Juvia was his best friend since they were little, even though they didn't go to the same high school. They both had rough childhoods, and knew what it felt like to misunderstood. The picture was taken in one of the rare moments in Juvia's past where she was happy, truly happy.

It wasn't easy having a best friend who was clinically depressed.

The picture always made him happy. It symbolized a triumph in his life, being able to make his best friend that happy.

"Juvia ain't my girlfriend." he grumbled.

Why did everyone assume that?

Gajeel hadn't had a girlfriend since college, actually. Besides, Juvia was in love with that stripper. She'd been happier since she'd started hanging out with, and dating, Gray. She still gets depressed sometimes, but it's few and far between now. Gajeel felt confident in leaving her in his care, allowing him to worry less about his best friend than he had to when he was the only one who cared.

Gajeel showed Levy an email from the Sabertooth Law Firm in Japan. The two were supposed to have a lawyer exchange program. Titania, the angry redhead attorney, knew a bit of Japanese, so she translated the first email, but he needed the translator to make sure everything was in order. For some reason, she refused to sit in his seat, so he printed out the emails and handed them to her. They bantered a bit, making things seem...normal between them, if that was even a thing. Their old normal was screaming at each other.

He prefered this new normal. It was less tiring and more enjoyable. They both took light jabs at each other, but nothing that couldn't be reflected back at the other person. It was something that he didn't get to do often. Juvia still didn't understand sarcasm well, neither did Salamander, the pink haired idiot in marketing. Blondie, who worked with the pink haired idiot, was too sensitive. Titania was more likely to beat him up than to banter like this with him. The stripper understood him, another reason why Gajeel could stand him, but he was usually around Juv.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when the shrimp gasped. "Just how much Japanese does Erza know?"

Gajeel shrugged. "Not sure. Why'd ya ask?"

Levy had a worried look. "I'm pretty sure she told them that the whole firm was coming to Japan."

* * *

Gajeel was so tired lately. He got even less sleep than usual, meaning more cups of coffee. He was lucky to have an intern who would go get him more coffee without even needing to be asked. How he got Wendy Marvell as his intern, he had no clue.

Wendy was a sweet, bright blunette who worked hard at whatever she did. She had a full ride to college, that's how smart she was. Her professional people skills made her better suited for the job than Gajeel. But when it came to normal conversations, Wendy was a bit naive and innocent, even though she was 20. Gajeel couldn't help but take her in as his unofficial little sister. She was one of the only people who wasn't wary of Gajeel when they first met, which was a comfortable change. Wendy also reminded him a bit of Juvia, for some reason. It was probably just the blue hair.

Gajeel looked up from his paperwork as Wendy brought in what was probably the 5th cup of coffee that morning. "Thanks kid," he said softly, giving her a small smile. He was sitting at his desk, trying to go over the Japanese that Shrimp was trying to teach them. Master had her teaching the entire firm Japanese in preparation for them all going to Japan.

Yeah, that was still happening.

"Are you studying?" Wendy asked politely.

Gajeel grunted in affirmation. "Yea. I already knew some stuff, but I never bothered with learnin' how to write it. That's what's trippin' me up."

Wendy nodded and grabbed a stack of papers that she knew were meant for her. "I'll see you later Mr. Redfox," she said brightly as she made her way into the next room.

Gajeel just shook his head. "How many times do I have to tell the kid to call me Gajeel?" he muttered under his breath.

A few hours later, Wendy came back in. At this point, Shrimp had already gotten there and was working on translating, and ignoring him, which annoyed him for some reason. He wanted to find a way to make it up to her, to show that he wasn't the guy he was in high school. However, that wasn't working out very well. She pretty much refused to speak to him unless it was completely necessary.

"Hello, Mr. Redfox. Hello, Ms. McGarden." Wendy smiled at the two of them. Gajeel nodded in her direction in acknowledgement. The young girl struck up a conversation with the shrimp and Gajeel kept on typing away at his computer, slightly paying attention to their conversation as he typed up an email to the Blue Pegasus Law Firm. He could feel Levy's eyes on him as Wendy complimented her on her work ethic, and he slanted his eyes at her in return.

Shrimp turned back to Wendy with a stupidly wide grin. "Thanks! I've been super busy, but every once in a while, busy is nice, right? To know you always have something to do. You're never bored."

"You're a workaholic." Gajeel grumbled.

She huffed. "I am not."

Gajeel nodded and crossed his arms. "Ya sure are."

"Tch. And you're a gentleman." She answered sarcastically.

"You _so_ are, shrimp."

"Prove it."

"You stayed at work until 11:30 on your first day. I think that's proof enough."

"That's only because I was so busy trying to teach you guys Japanese!"

"He's actually got you there, Ms. McGarden." Wendy commented. "You didn't have to stay that late."

The bickering pair gave the young girl a look to stay out of it, which worked. Levy huffed and grabbed her things, getting up to leave. Wendy stopped her on her way out.

"Actually, Ms. McGarden, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What is it?"

"I actually wanted to talk to you about, uh... love."

Gajeel raised an eyebrow, looking over at the two females. Love? Seriously? Why would the kid need any help when it came to love? It was obvious to everyone that she was head over heels for Titania's intern, Romeo Conbolt, and that he was crazy about her too. He didn't understand what was the problem. He had expected Romeo to man up and ask her out by now, but apparently that hadn't happened yet.

"… I think he might like another girl."

Wait, what?

Gajeel watched as Shrimp started pacing, spouting in different languages, only half of which he understood, before she ran off, saying she was late to some meeting. Wendy sighed and plopped down in the chair the other bluenette had been occupying. "Mr. Redfox, do you know what I should do?"

He turned away from his computer to face the young girl, who was looking down at the hands in her lap. Was she seriously asking him for advice? "First of all," he started, "Call me Gajeel. You don't need to be so formal around me. Second of all, I wouldn't worry about Romeo liking another girl," he said bluntly.

"Really?" the bluenette asked, looking up at the older man.

Gajeel nodded confidently. "Of course. That kid has had his eyes on you since day one. Apparently everyone but the two of you can see it."

Wendy blushed and smiled that admittedly adorable smile that she has. "Thanks Gajeel-san!"

Gajeel groaned. "Again, with the formalities! Don't think I don't know you're usin' a formal honorific with me."

"Sorry, Gajeel- _nii_."

Gajeel laughed with Wendy, reaching over and ruffling her hair a bit. "Better, kid. Now, ya got that paperwork for me?"


	2. Chapter 2

Gajeel walked into his favorite bar, Quatro Cerberus. It had been a rough two weeks for him, and he needed to unwind before they flew to Japan tomorrow morning. Apparently, some other people had the same idea. As soon as he walked in, he was greeted by Juvia, who seemed to have only just walked in herself with her boyfriend, Ice Princess. Flame Brain and Bunny Girl were already at the usual booth.

"Gajeel-kun! Juvia didn't know that you were going to be here tonight," Juvia smiled brightly at her best friend. She had also gotten into the Japanese honorifics, just like some of the other girls had.

He shrugged. "I need a drink before tomorrow. It's going to be kind of a big deal for me, for multiple reasons."

Juvia nodded knowingly, but not saying anything in front of Gray. "Of course it is. You should make sure that you're relaxed tomorrow. Just don't go overboard, okay?"

With a grunt, he smirked. "And have a hangover tomorrow? Come on Juv, i'm smart about this stuff. You know me."

Gajeel wrapped his arm around her shoulder and walked them over towards their usual booth, where fire and ice were once again proving to be opposing sides as they got heavily into an argument about Mavis knows what. He had somehow knew that everyone was going to go out tonight. After all, it was an exciting day for everyone tomorrow, but none more than Gajeel. Not even Shrimp had a bigger day than he did, and she was going to be on the job constantly. No, Gajeel has something way more important than work happening tomorrow. Tomorrow was the first time in years that he would see his little cousin, Rouge.

Rouge had come to America when he was in middle school to go to school for a few years. However, shortly before Rouge arrived, Metalicana, Gajeel's father and sole caretaker, died in a motorcycle accident. However, with everything already in place, Rouge came over anyway, and the two of them worked together to make ends meet. Gajeel, at the time, was entering his freshman year of high school. For the first time, at least. He became an independent minor, and Rouge was just a long-term guest, especially since Skiadrum, Rouge's father and Metalicana's brother, sent money for his son's stay. Rouge was unable to work a real job at such a young age, so his money mostly came from raking leaves and walking dogs for the neighbors. Gajeel, on the other hand, had to take on almost a full time job working at a restaurant as a busboy, which meant a lot of skipping school for work. Even on days when Gajeel didn't have work until that night, he would skip his last period of the day to go pick up Rouge from school. Even though he could have easily asked his uncle for more money, he knew that his uncle was struggling enough as it was to send the money that he was, and Rouge really did enjoy it here, so he never let anyone how much of a struggle it was for Gajeel.

He ended up failing freshman year twice. At the end of his second time going through freshman year, he was bitter about the world. Rouge left that summer, and even though he was sad to see him go, it meant that he could maybe finally go through school. Gajeel was actually pretty smart, but because of the last two years and because he still had to skip school because of work, the teachers branded him as lazy, and only half expected him to pass on the third try. Which is why they were all so surprised when he got As in practically everything, and Bs in everything he didn't get an A in. But just because his grades were good didn't mean he didn't get in trouble. And he did. Constantly. He became the school bully, punching anyone who said anything bad about him.

There was one person in particular the he bullied. Levy McGarden. The blue haired girl was loved by all teachers for how smart she was, and was constantly praised for it. Though he wouldn't admit it at the time, he was jealous of the praise that she got. Though, when he would notice that she was suffering academically because of it, he pulled back on it a bit. After all, he didn't want anyone to feel the way that he did when he got a bad grade.

Four years later, he graduated high school, and with tons of scholarships and loans for being an independent, Gajeel made his way through college. Although it wasn't the greatest college around, he could graduate with honors and impress the Phantom Lord Law Firm to take him in straight out of college. Soon after that, Juvia joined him, but after the Phantom Lord Law Firm got shut down because of illegal activity happening higher up, it was Juvia who took the two of them to Fairy Tail.

He had changed a lot since high school. If anything, he was more like the Gajeel the Rouge and Juvia knew when he was younger than anything else. He hoped that Rouge had done well in all those years. Better than him, at least.

"Gajeel-kun?" Juvia said, lightly putting a hand on his shoulder, bringing him to attention.

Gajeel looked up at the different pairs of eyes that were staring at him. It seems that he had spaced out while he was thinking and ended up staring at the beer in his hand.

"You alright, bro?" Gray asked, and Gajeel nodded, his lips twisting up into his signature grin.

"Of course I am. But unlike you guys, my job is riding on this trip to go well," he smirked before taking a swig of his beer.

And just like that, the group went back to its normal self. Only Juvia was still worried about the large man, but she knew more than anyone else what this trip meant to him.

She just hoped that it would all go well.

* * *

"This whole thing is ridiculous," Gajeel grumbled to himself under his breath. He really didn't understand why the whole firm had to go to Japan. Even Gildarts was going, and that guy was barely ever even at the office.

Not that Gajeel really minded. There was a lot of things for him to do in Japan. Gajeel was interrupted from his thoughts when the shrimp spoke, taking him out of his thoughts.

" _Gajeel_ , get your butt off that chair."

He grunted softly. Slowly, he got up and grabbed his bags. "I hate buses."

"I'm surprised you don't hate _everything_." She said, turning back around to leave the room.

"I don't hate you." Gajeel mumbled, but loud enough that Levy could hear.

It was true. He didn't hate her. After all, they were co-workers, so why should they hate each other? And she hadn't done anything to make him hate her. He didn't know why she insisted on saying that he hated her.

" _What?_ " She said sharply, looking at him once again.

He looked away. "Nothing, shrimp. Don't worry about it." He didn't feel like explaining it to her.

"Tch. As if I could ever relax with you in my presence," she said with certainty.

Gajeel just rolled his eyes as the small bluenette left the room to go board the bus. He let out a small groan to himself. His motion sickness was not going to be fun to deal with, but it had to be done. And riding the bus was not as bad as if they were going in a car.

Gathering up his things, he walked out of the building, making sure that he had what he needed before leaving. He wondered what unfortunate soul would be sitting next to him. Salamander probably, since the two of them had the same motion sickness problem.

Oh boy, he wasn't ready for the real answer to his question.

Gajeel heard the petite translator curse under her breath as he sat down next to her. Hey, he wanted to sit here about as much as she wanted it, maybe even less because he didn't want to be on this bus anyway.

He fell asleep soon after the bus started moving, knowing that it would help with his motion sickness to not be conscious. However, he did drift in and out of consciousness throughout the ride. Apparently, he had fallen asleep on Shrimp's shoulder. During one of the times where he was more conscious, he heard a voice, which most likely belonged to the person he was sleeping on, but he couldn't tell what they were saying. Finally, he actually just slept, letting himself settle down for the long hall. It wasn't until he felt his face hit with a bag that he finally woke up.

"Oi!" he groaned, rubbing his face as Levy shuffled past him. Standing up, he grabbed his bags and made his way off the bus. "Could ya at least try to be a little nicer to me?" he asked her.

"Did you try to be nicer to me back in high school?" The petite woman said, not turning around.

That made Gajeel stop in his tracks, but only for a second. "Look, shrimp…"

"Would you please stop calling me that?"

"That's the one thing I won't do."

"Oh? Then what _will_ you do?" This time she faced him, and halfway down the stairs she could see Lucy peeking her head out from behind a seat, with her eyes wide as if she was watching some intriguing TV show. Levy realised that no one at the firm knew about Levy and Gajeel's relationship except for Jet and Droy.

Gajeel sighed. "Whatever it takes." He mumbled. Really, he only said half of what he meant, but he didn't even want to say anything to her. He wanted to make up for what he did when they were in high school. He was a punk and a bully, and she didn't deserve any of what he did to her. And although the two of them were better than they were in high school, he knew that she still held resentment towards her.

The bluenette watched in shock as he passed her and got off the bus without saying another word. She quickly gathered herself and followed him. "What the heck does that mean?" She called.

Gajeel turned and gave her a smirk. "Whatever you want it to mean, shrimp." He was too much of a natural flirt for his own good.


End file.
